In the Light: The Story of the Lion Tamer
by TwilightSnowStar
Summary: AU. There is a story, that the forest is home to fearsome creatures that won't hesitate to prey on victims who unthinkingly stumble into its shadowy depths. So what does Miss Bella Swan do? Why, get lost and attract the attention of one of them herself!
1. Chapter 1

**_You know what? I realized something after I finished writing this. I am clearly insane. I am starting an enitirely new story when I have others I haven't touched in months! Honestly, what is wrong with me? _**

**_But I couldn't let this go, noooo, I couldn't not let this story that I have only a vague idea of get out of my head._**

**_Anyway, this is just sorta the prologue, it will make more sense later._**

**_This is kind of an experiment too, I'm trying to work a lot on my writing, and I think that this will hopefully help me. (maybe)_**

**_Disclaimer:I don't own Twilight._**

* * *

Thunder rumbled overhead; white lightening forked across the sky, sending everything into a flash of white light. In a distant corner of my mind I heard my skirt being ripped as it got caught in branches protruding from the skeletal trees around me. But I didn't care.

I didn't care about anything anymore.

I was running, simply running to be able to run away. It was childish, foolish, but in my most desperate time I held onto those beloved thoughts of childhood. My mind kept screaming at me, exclaiming in a terrible frenzy, _"Run!"_

"_Run now!"_

"_Faster!"_

"_Keep going!"_

"_Don't stop!"_

And of course the one omnipresent thought above all.

"_Run, if you run fast enough, you'll be able to escape it all. If you run fast enough, you'll leave your feelings behind you. Better to feel nothing at all than all of the world's sorrow on your shoulders."_

And so I ran, and I kept running; hoping to escape all of my emotions and be left with nothing.

Nothing.

Blissful, numbing nothing.

But the euphoria, or lack of, never came. The blessed relief that was nothing never graced me with it's presence.

I wasn't surprised.

I was logical, practical. I knew that it wouldn't help but to give me a stitch in my side that throbbed as I inhaled and exhaled, but that instinct to run had overpowered everything else.

I stopped, utterly exhausted after running away for so long and failing so miserably. It was then, as I was gasping and breathing heavily in hopes of recovering my long lost oxygen, I realized that I was utterly lost.

It seemed expected now, after everything that had happened, it felt like this was supposed to happen.

Things never seemed to go the way I wanted them to. After everything, I thought that maybe, just maybe, something would actually be good, but now I know.

I know that nothing will ever make my life a good one.

And now I know, I was meant to be alone, and now it was fitting.

I was lost in my aloneness.

* * *

Quietly, deftly, a creature looked in on Isabella Swan as she was being torn with her depressing thoughts. This creature, this graceful and beautiful feline, was feeling odd. Very odd actually. 

Here he was, this great creature of the forest, the king of the unknown, the embodiment of grace, and majesty in his every gaze. Here he was, staring at this girl, this ordinary girl, who was crying silently to herself. But the oddest thing was...

...he couldn't read her thoughts.

The thoughts that were tearing through Isabella's mind, the things that made such a raucous noise in her own head, he couldn't hear at all.

That in itself was not unusual, it was _unheard_ of!

And then it came, the agony, intensified by millions. He was prepared to react to the smell and sound of blood, that sweet life water pumping steadily through her veins. The despair she was going through now only intensified the need for the crimson liquid to spill and for him to lap it up, and spreading life through his body.

But he hadn't been ready for the utter _need_ for the girl's blood. He had dealt with temptation before, but never on this level before. It had always been a struggle, and now it was almost an impossibility.

The proud feline couldn't help but continue to stare at the girl, even when his golden eyes started growing darker, until finally they were almost black. He should get away now. Never see this girl again and abstain from indulging in a practice that he had thought that he had cured in himself such a long time ago.

But he couldn't go.

It was strange, more than strange, but the huge cat wanted to help the girl so badly, to make her silent tears go away. He knew it was another impossibility though; he wouldn't be helping the girl at all by being so close to her.

Walk away, and he was trying, he really was, but his claw-studded paws couldn't seem to move. Just as his eyes wouldn't move from the pitiful form once again.

* * *

A young man skillfully ran through the forest at a leisurely pace; his dark skin and hair allowing him to be all the more inconspicious to the casual observer. But who would observe him here? It was deserted here, the stories of the haunted woods had been driven too deeply into the minds of those who truly believed them. 

All were terrified of the creatures said to roam these parts. Offerings were made, so that the demons would be satisfied and let the people outside the forest live in peace and relative safety.

Jacob truly believed these stories, but he also believed other things that had been unconsciously left out of the stories.

Like the fact that the creatures were possibly more evil than known before, or that they could be much less dangerous than thought before.

Or that they could be destroyed.

All in all, Jacob wasn't worried.

After all, there were other parts of the stories that were unknown to the casual observer as well.

Such as the fact that werewolves roamed these parts.

* * *

The forest was magic. It was an evil place filled with evil creatures that were dangerous during the day, and lethal at night. 

These rumors had been shared and spread throughout the world away from the haunted, wooded realm for as long as anyone could remember. These terrible beings had always been known. They had always been feared.

But where was the proof? Where was the founding in all of those chilling stories told by the fire late at night? What could possibly ground these rumors and allow them to be fact? What was capable of causing spasms of fear and adrenaline to course through the body whenever the stories were told?

No one had ever asked how or wondered why? The devils were just always _there._ Hundreds of generations had grown up accustomed to the fear that had been instilled in them from the moment of their birth. No one had ever known who started these rumors, or how they had started upon the things in the forest. But no one was willing to find out, as they were perfectly comfortable to maintain a safe distance between the start of the ancient trees and themselves.

But of course there were always rebels; those who wanted to answer these questions themselves. Most who entered into the forest never returned, but those that did wouldn't speak for the remainder of their life, twitching and wincing with fear whenever a sudden move was made.

A pity, the people would never gain the proof that they didn't care to know. They were happy that way, though. Enormously glad were they that they wouldn't have to undergo the ordeal of trying to find substance to the stories.

But anyone who saw the grizzly, lumbering through the woods with mighty speed and sound, with the white wolf, graceful and beautiful to an unimaginable degree. And the stag, the light and thoughtful mighty deer sprouting enormous antlers that spread out in a fearsome pattern, gathered with the black falcon, flying and spinning and twirling through the sky as if she was one of the wind's own herself. Indeed, anyone would have seen the truth behind the stories if they ever had seen the mighty animals gathered together, searching for their wayward brother.

* * *

**_If there is already a story like this on here, tell me in a review._**

**_After all my escapades through other fandoms I've neglected the Twilight fandom! Help me, please, by sending in a review a story on here that is good or you think I should read. As long as it deals with Twilight, I'll look into it._**

**_I know, as I've said before and no doubt will say again, I'm insane._**

**_If anyone can guess who each animal is, well, the chapter will be dedicated to all of you who made sense of my strange ramblings, but you have to guess ALL of them._**

**_A hint, read the part in Twilight where Edward and Bella are talking about hunting in the cafeteria to get two of the answers!_**

**_Any questions, don't hesitate to tell me in a review or PM message, I know that this was really confusing._**

**_TwilightSnowStar_**


	2. Chapter 2

**_Deviana_****_BurningIce22_****_Kissa1_****_Bella-Edward_****_Deliriously Withdrawn_****_, and _****_SilverAndExact_****_ all guessed correctly about the identity of the animals-_**

**_Edward/Lion_**

**_Alice/Falcon_**

**_Rosalie/Wolf_**

**_Emmett/Bear_**

**_Jasper/Stag_**

**_I got a few questions about Carlisle and Esme, you'll see later._**

**_Well, this story is back up! After I uploaded my new Oneshot, I got nostalgic and decided to finish up this chapter (which was already almost done) and send it in. I'm not sure how Bella's part went, it felt a little strange for some reason, but tell me if you think it was bad. Updates might be a little inconsistant, but I'm trying and I still have to get the full plot in my head._**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight._**

* * *

He looked at her, and kept looking. For once, he cared about how anyone other than his family felt, and the way the girl was crying made his entire lithe form tremble with the need to comfort her. The way he couldn't find out what was wrong with her, and how her thoughts couldn't be found by him was just another enigma that just added to this inner turmoil.

And then of course there was her blood.

Honestly, he had never thought anything, human or animal, could smell that _delicious_. Her blood was such an intoxicating mix, a hint of freesia, and a tint of rose, mixed in with the normal coppery scent multiplied by thousands. He had never even conceived the idea that blood such as hers could exist. And now it felt like he would start salivating at any moment.

He was being split in half by his two opposing sides; the first, that felt compassion for this strange girl for an equally strange reason, and now the second, which was ready to drink that luscious blood right then and there.

So, he did the only logical thing that his muddled being could do, he stood there, just watching her.

Should he drink from her? Should he allow himself to submit to temptation and quench the eternal thirst that had always hounded away at him from the moment he cast off human blood as a staple in his diet? Should he concede to the thirst, allow it to control him? He thought, and brooded, on what that would cause. If he did this, this devilish urge to wipe away his only precious few bits of humanity, he would be one of the animals that he embodied. He would only be an animal, no better than the primal lion whose form he borrowed.

But it would be so easy! The mountain lion side of him was whispering sweet words of the hunt that would take place. It wouldn't even be much of a hunt anyway, she was merely a human, grief-stricken as it seemed, it said. He would give her a chance to run of course, and allow her to get her adrenaline flowing, have her blood pumping through her veins to get it hot and ready. It sounded exquisite. And it had been such a long time…since he had tasted the sweet blood of a human. Now the words of the atrocity that was a part of him joined the instincts of the lion's; the unnatural working with the natural, fitting.

_And no one would try to look for her_, it said. _These woods are dangerous. The humans know it, and they stay away. Really, it's a proper punishment to this mortal for trespassing on lands that she should well know are the domain of something much larger than she. And what better way to keep the humans away? To have one of their own taken as proof of the peril of this place would surely keep them in their place. They would finally have tangible proof about the risks of traveling in this forest._

He was conflicted. All of his primary instincts screamed at him to leap at the pitiful human. They all tormented him with imaginings of how sweet her blood would taste, how satisfying the crack of her neck breaking, music to his ears.

He realized with a shudder what he was thinking. The part of him that was still human knew that there was something wrong with these thoughts, they were the thoughts of an animal, but wasn't that exactly what he was now? Was he simply an animal with highly advanced abilities and shapes? When did he stop becoming a person? When did he truly become a monster?

He was growing more befuddled as time went on, more and more he was getting confused. And that was bad.

A being like him, they didn't get confused. If he was confused, then what was left of his already fragile world? Confusion brought mistakes, and mistakes brought consequences.

Life was relatively quiet here for the last century, but he knew it wouldn't stay like that. As time went on, people grew to disregard the old stories and legends that were much more truthful than any misconceived scientific stereotype about the supernatural. In time, people would wonder what was really in the forest that had been untouched for so many years, and they would go looking for the solution to their question. _So_, the malicious voice whispered sweetly into his ear, _it would be better to kill the human, you admitted it yourself._

But he wouldn't, he couldn't. This human was what he once was, living. And it wouldn't be him who would deal the fatal blow to this pitiful creature. This being could be anything she wanted to be, nothing would stop her, except death, and he wouldn't give her that.

_But there is something else isn't there? _It sneered at him with not-so-subtle mockery.

_Don't you dare try to deny it! You know that if you kill this disgusting mortal, there will be no going back. You would have submitted yourself to the soulless beast inside of you. You wouldn't be able to stop; you would continue to gorge your greedy self until suddenly you would find yourself wreaking havoc on the humans. You could beyond any doubt, call yourself a murderer._

_But of course, it will happen anyway, so why delay the inevitable? Why should you deny Fate?_

He would not have it!

_Because…,_ his own voice charged into the verbal battle, _…because I am not a murderer. I am many things, but I am not a murderer. Who are you to say that Fate dictates our lives? Why would we submit to some ill-conceived invisible force that forces on us ultimatums and sacrifices? I never have, and I never shall surrender myself to Fate, never will I let something make choices for me! I am in control! _

That decision made, he fought off the onslaught of outrage, from the lion for letting the easily caught prey escape and from the monster for letting a chance for the sacred blood slip out of his fingers. It was hard, nigh impossible, but he kept battling, until his mind was almost ready to cave to the snarls and growls of the two predators.

_EDWARD!_

His darkening eyes widened. His sister was calling him, and his family was looking for him. That momentary distraction was enough for his mind to bully down all evidences of insanity screeching at him into submission.

He took a long, panting breathe of relief and exhaustion. He really would have to thank his sister for her unique and piercing voice, much like the fierce cry of a falcon…

He followed the sound of his sister's voice and the subtle sounds of travel that marked his family's passage. If he wasn't so absorbed in his thoughts, he would have heard it all long ago, but no matter. He would leave, and never see the mortal again. That was best, it would work for everyone. The mortal would keep her life, and Edward would keep his sanity and humanity, a perfectly even bargain.

The feline turned around, letting his tail swing around softly to make a light swishing noise against the ferns in his wake. Let that alert the human to presences that are much more…merciful, Edward thought to himself.

Now, he bounded away, fully anticipating his reunion with this family, and the chance to gain his true form, he couldn't wait. These thoughts were trivial, not necessarily important, but it was a cheerful gaiety and lightness that helped keep his mind off the girl, barely, and as the wind blew her scent to him, he tensed and fought off his instincts again, willing himself to return to his family. They would understand, they would help him.

* * *

Something is watching me. I can feel their eyes, drinking in my form and contemplating in silent thought.

I would have called out, but I was scared, terrified more like. I knew what happened in these woods, the type of creatures it was privy to didn't calm me in the slightest.

I wasn't in my right mind when I ran here. The adrenaline coursing through me is bringing blood and oxygen back to my brain, and now I'm thinking clearly enough to know that I am in trouble—no, more than that—I'm dead.

But perhaps it is better this way. Charlie, my only parent I had ever known, was dying, so wouldn't it be fitting if I joined him?

There it goes, the thing is gone, the hair at the nape of my neck, I can feel it settling, no longer disturbed by further unwanted scrutiny. Who would come into these woods, except for an idiot, such as myself? Who else would allow grief to control them so?

It was stupid…so very stupid.

I am already forgetting about the ominous feeling, pushing it into the back of my mind until I absolutely need to dwell on those thoughts.

My father was dying. He was my only friend, my only support in an already shaky world. He was my reason to live, my father. I had a purpose, when I was cooking or cleaning for him. By caring for him, I had a right to live. But with him gone, I would no longer have proof that I deserved to still live. I would try, I know I would, but time would take its toll on me, and after awhile, there wouldn't be anything left.

I am a selfish person. My father is dying, and I'm having a breakdown for myself. I'm terrified of him dying, I love him more than any daughter could ever love their father, but the first thought I have when I hear of his…situation, and I'm off to go cry in the woods, for myself.

I am a terrible person.

* * *

**_Bella's a little...melancholy. Anyway, this is kind of a filler chapter to get me back, but I'll try to get another up ASAP! Tell me what you thought, sorry if anything was OC._**


	3. Chapter 3

**_Yes, yes, I have better things to update, but oh well. It gets better at the end._**

**_This is the big chapter, when most is finally explained. Believe me, Edward plays a big part in this chapter, so does Bella, and also everyone's favorite werewolf!_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own any Twilight related characters, plots, or books. Those are the property of Stephenie Meyer._**

* * *

There was a gasp from behind me, and before I knew it, a stranger was behind me, "Miss," his voice was a mixture between a growl and a rushing river, "what are you doing here? Do you know where you are?"

I looked up at him through teary eyes. From what I saw in the waning light in the murky darkness, he was tall, and even though he was bending down beside me, I knew that he would seem like a tree to me. He was also very tan, so dark, as if he had spent most of his life out of the shadow of a cottage. His eyes, however, they caught my attention. Two inky pools, black as the night about to consume us, were staring down at me. I should've been very afraid, but I wasn't.

"Were you the one watching me?" I asked the question that came naturally, the one that I had been wondering earlier, and, for some reason, I found it comforting that this stranger should be the one watching me, protecting me, it seemed.

All these pleasant thoughts and Charlie was _dying_! I deserved all this guilt that was barraging me if my thoughts could flicker from a dying father to a handsome stranger. What was wrong with me?

My increased tears alarmed the stranger further.

"No, no don't cry, stop crying, I wasn't watching you," he urged me in a panicky voice, and I cried harder, "Wait, someone was watching you? Are you sure?"

I tried to nod.

"This is bad, this is very bad." He whispered the words to himself, probably thinking that the psychopath beside him wasn't listening. I was simply confused, and sad, and guilty, but I wasn't _that_ stupid.

"Why?" He didn't expect me to ask the question. Through my sobbing, he probably was surprised that I managed to make myself heard, I was too.

"The forest is dangerous at this time, anytime, but especially now, it's twilight."

I was still confounded, and he saw my look of befuddlement with increasing relief.

"Well, miss, I am known around these parts as Jacob," he gave me a grin, concealing all his past worries, "mind telling me who you are?" He had to be joking if he thought that I would tell him my name, in a forest, alone, to a stranger. Was I truly the idiot here?

He caught my expression and the grin slid off his face like rainwater from a window, but it was just as quickly replaced by another, "Well your name doesn't matter. But I was serious when I said that the forest is dangerous at this time, so we have to get you home, now don't we?"

I nodded warily; he seemed too friendly compared with my bleak, unhelpful world. Like a ray of sunshine in a storm cloud, it was out of place. But his words were wise, I did need to get home, tend to Charlie, I had already been selfish enough to run off as I did, now I needed to get back to him.

"Good, you agree with me there. Please, miss, just tell me where you live, and I'll carry you."

"Why?" I spoke again, surprising us both again.

"I want to help you. What self-respecting wer—person—would leave a lady out here all alone while it was getting dark? Now did you really think I was that heartless?"

I kept staring at him, willing him to keep going. He sighed at my refusal to answer, "And I need to carry you because it will really be much quicker, and you are truly in no condition to travel."

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"Here," he scrabbled on the ground below him to find a large rock, "you can hold this, and if you start suspecting me of any ill motives, simply bang me on the head and go on your own merry way." He was grinning again, as if it was all a joke. I clutched the rock, tightly.

"Ok, now, mind telling me where you live?" Yes, I did mind, I minded a lot. Too bad my mouth was a little too fast for my brain.

"Lakson," I blurted out. His smile grew.

"Lakson, good, that's not far from here; I have friends over there. Now, you just don't worry, miss; I'll haveyou over there in twenty minutes, tops." And suddenly, my hands still clenched around the rock, he held me, before throwing me over his shoulder. And off we went. I heard Jacob give a few chuckles at my expense.

I was too dazed by the speed that he had picked me up to notice how lovely and warm his back was, so strong and hard, a rock in my raging sea. My tears that had begun to subside returned, stronger; what was _wrong_ with me?

* * *

Edward was almost back to his family. He had almost returned to their loving embrace where he could find solace, knowing that they would be the only ones not to judge him. He heard with joy the falcon's cry and the howl of the white wolf. His sisters were looking for him.

But in his haze of familial love, Edward's mind was still wrapped around that scent, or at least the memory of it. Not just that, either. He wondered about the girl. Would she be all right in the woods alone? He was the most dangerous of the creatures in the forest, but there were still quite a few that would have no qualms about eating such easy prey.

His instincts screamed at him again for letting go such _easy prey_! He pushed the annoying voice back again. One lapse in a control that had held for centuries, Edward could handle it. But he still worried over the girl. He wondered over his concern for her, too. But, he realized, it was probably just because she had looked so vulnerable, so pitiful in her state of sorrow and of mortality.

_But what you wouldn't give for that pitiful gift, right? _The instincts mocked him.

It was then that a strong breeze blasted him, with air filled to dripping with two scents.

One was so very intoxicating: the girl. The other, it sent his mind into a mad frenzy: the dog.

Edward stopped in his tracks, his padded feet urging him to turn and run after the two conflicting smells. If there was ever a concerned thought for the girl before, now it was being shown. He couldn't simply let her be in such danger as she was with a werewolf, and he couldn't let her luscious scent leave him either. It was as if her smell was a hook, and he was being reeled in by its disappearance.

It was now past dusk, twilight was coming on, and still Edward ran towards the object of his anxiety. His paws were hitting the ground, the claws scratching and flinging the ground under them. In a corner of his mind, he heard Alice screeching at him, Rosalie was growling at him, and even Emmett was roaring at him. They had no idea what he was doing, or where he was, and they guessed it was probably something that wasn't good, if it kept him from his family. Jasper was the only quiet one, as usual, but this time it was because he could tell, even from their great distance, that he was feeling something…different.

It was twilight now, there was no mistaking the transition in the sky from crimson to mauve, the usurpation of the Sun by the Moon as ruler of the sky, or the change taking place in Edward himself, oh yes, and twilight was upon him.

The change was sudden, as it had always been. Edward still could barely believe that this was him. First, he was a mountain lion, a beautiful, strong, predator, and then, stepping into a clearing of moonlight, the paw became a perfect, white foot, the regal tail was gone, the fur was replaced by perfect, diamond skin. The biggest change was his head, the feeling of the bones and the fangs moving and disappearing, to only be replaced by the same perfect, diamond stone that was his skin, and a face that could make the most hardened crone weep for the beauty. The fur on his head, it had changed into a long shock of a mix between red and brown. He was beautiful.

The mountain lion, running on all fours, had turned into a man, a boy, doing the same. Edward still felt the post-change feelings, nausea, heartache, dizziness, that feeling of alienation with everything, like he had been scooped up from some place very far and dropped in this unfamiliar land. Did that slow him down? Of course not.

He was still growling, a ferocious, animalistic sound that had no right to be coming from human lips. He ran faster now, on two perfectly formed feet, not even noticing the now familiar feeling of the worn, comfortable breeches, or the ordinary, woolen shirt.

The moonlight sent the diamonds of his skin sparkling, almost lighting a pathway for him, not that he even needed it.

Edward was coming closer now; the invading stench of the dog practically burning his nostrils, only to be soothed by the flowery scent of the girl again. He could feel both their heartbeats, his was normal, calm, but the girl's was thumping erratically, so fast that he received the most tantalizing image of her blood rushing to her face, blooming like a wild rose.

The thoughts of the werewolf were rushing into his head.

_Get away. Get her away. Get away._

Of course, the werewolf was never exactly the most intelligent of beings, not much in his mind that needed to be learned.

He was almost upon them, when they slowed down.

He saw them now, the girl, almost able to stare back at him from her unwilling perch on his shoulder. A quick blaze of anger went through him at the sight of the werewolf holding her as he was. But they had stopped, and he was putting her down. Thankfully, he seemed to be following the orders that Edward was internally screaming at him to do so gently.

Behind them, Edward saw a village, almost a small town. He had crept past this area before, never knowing—or caring—anything about it. Now, the place seemed to hold a hidden meaning.

He should go, he really should. Why was he here? He should really go. But Edward stayed standing there, not budging.

She was standing on the ground now, swaying dizzily, turning back to the one who had brought her there. Edward, to his amusement, saw her drop a rock subtly behind her back. Good girl.

She was still trying to say whatever she meant to say to the dog, but it was at that precise moment that, through the break in the trees where he saw everything, Edward's eyes locked with hers. The contact was nothing short of electric, and he held it for seconds, until his sanity returned to him, fully this time. He disappeared through the trees, becoming invisible.

The glance itself had lasted barely more than five seconds, but it was an eternity to him, albeit a short one. Even though he was doing the right thing in leaving, Edward couldn't help thinking that the girl had beautiful eyes. Then came the natural thought to follow, he wanted to see those eyes again.

The rumor was spread throughout the leaves and the grass, but the gossiping wind spread it further still. The feeling of change was carried through the air; every part of the forest felt this strange, new enigma.

It was obvious in everything: something was changing.

Something that had never happened before was becoming an entirely new situation.

Something big was about to happen.

* * *

**_Well, yeah, that's it._**


	4. Chapter 4

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight._**

* * *

The wind blew.

"So, here we are," Jacob stopped, and Bella stared at him. He seemed nervous, on edge, if he was a dog, his hackles would be raised and a low growl would be admitting from his mouth.

The wind blew again, sending Bella's hair far out behind her, and bringing with the breeze a tantalizing whisper, a scent of something cold, and fresh, and wonderful. It smelled like she imagined moonlight would smell, like the beautiful shadows it made, tricking the eye to make the dark edges and swirling leaves look like a boy, a beautiful boy.

Jacob still seemed scared, and Bella now felt sorry to have caused him such trouble. Maybe he really did prefer the wood; he was edging away from the cottages and buildings of the town, of civilization.

His voice was shaky, "Get inside, it's dangerous here, at night. All the time, but now especially; get inside." Jacob was starting the scare Bella now; the once-friendly, alarming stranger was shaking.

She was about to offer help, thanks even, when a thought came into her head—Charlie. Bella had to get back to Charlie.

She ran—to Charlie—throwing over her shoulder a shouted thank you. Bella was a little annoyed—Jacob probably thought she was listening to his warnings by running for home. She gave a mental shake of her head, everyone knew the woods was dangerous, she simply chose not to follow those warnings.

Edward watched as the girl ran away, not smelling her anymore as the winds changed, sending his scent straight towards the werewolf.

The lion-turned-man was leaving, turning to soothe the perturbations of his family. The thought of Alice's screeching, reverberating through his mind, caused him to wince.

"Wait."

Edward turned around, annoyed to be caught of guard. If his thoughts had been calmer, he would've heard—smelled—the werewolf coming. Now, the two men—boys—locked eyes, staring each other down. The immortal enemies circled each other, both baring their teeth in a way eerily reminiscent of their animal forms.

_Stay away from her._

"A little far out for you, isn't it?" the werewolf asked, echoing his thoughts more subtly than Edward thought possible for a dog.

"I could ask you the same," replied Edward, goading him, following the strain of the conversation.

The werewolf's brows gathered, showing the anger of his ancestors.

"You know that's not true. These lands are all of ours; we at least have kept our part of the bargain."

"And we haven't?"

"Perhaps it is better if a third party is not involved."

Edward knew what the werewolf was saying—it helped that he could hear his thoughts.

"I didn't touch her. You know that if I had wanted to, she would be dead by now." Both gave a small, convulsive shudder at the thought, neither knew why, but the strange boys were angered by the thought.

"Which is why you should stay away from her. We both know that your kind can't control their instincts," the barb from the werewolf angered Edward further, and it didn't help that the dog was right.

"But I controlled them, didn't I?"

"You were staring at her! I know what was going through your mind. You Cold Ones are all alike; tell me you weren't planning on which side of her neck would hold the most blood!"

"I walked away; I controlled my instincts!"

"So you were going to kill her!" the werewolf bellowed, his eyes widening, taking a step backward.

"You were going to kill her," he repeated.

"But I didn't," Edward somehow wanted to convince the werewolf of this. Why, who knows, maybe he was practicing for himself.

He continued, "I didn't, and you know that you aren't totally clean of this either."

"I was protecting her from you, from the forest! She's a human, and it's a good thing I did take her to her home, you followed us!"

"Because I smelled your scent with hers. That is enough cause for alarm as I could ever be."

"That's not true either. Who feeds on humans? Hmm, let me think…you!"

"We haven't in ages, and you could've killed her if you had changed."

"So why were you watching her back there? Why were you following us? I thought you had control of your instincts!" The werewolf's voice was mocking, but Edward heard the desperation in his mind for the answer.

He answered the only thing that he knew to be certain, "I don't know."

The werewolf gave a shaky laugh, "You don't know," another chuckle, "The first thing she asked me when I came was if I was the one watching her. There was a reason you were watching her. I want to know. Stop lying!"

But Edward couldn't hear anything past the dog's remembrance, and he watched with him as his enemy played the memory through his mind. Looking through the werewolf's eyes, Edward saw the girl again, hunched over and crumpled on the forest floor. She raised her tear splattered face, giving him a better look than he had had before. Those beautiful eyes he had first noticed were dark brown, now swimming with tears and showing an irritated red. The face that he saw should've been pale with a yellow tinge was blotchy red as well. It was a small face, plain and very human, but it was extraordinary in its sorrow. The sorrow that was exiting the human in the form of shaking, rattling, snotty sobs spoke of an all consuming sadness that a girl of her age should not have to bear. The face came up, stared at the seer and asked, "Were you the one watching me?"

"What are you doing?" The werewolf's demand was a growl.

Edward shook his head, breathing fresh air as he came out of his plunge into another's mind. His razor eyes focused once more on the scene around him, at the angry werewolf, shooting fire in his face, and at the woods around them, now seeming less bleak than before.

He had no time for the werewolf he realized, as he turned around, jumping into a jog in the opposite direction.

"Where are you going?" the shout came from the dog. He started to follow Edward.

As Edward put on a burst of speed that left his enemy far behind him, the werewolf gave a last effort and shouted out, "Stay away from her!"

Edward heard it, and in his own mind he responded, _Not likely. _First, Edward had to visit his family.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.**_

* * *

I was still shaking as I entered the back door to my home. Closing the door quietly, I leaned against it and slid down its smooth side until I was sitting on the ground with my back against the solid support of the oaken door. I was just so tired…

What I had done was dangerous. There were reasons no one entered those woods. I knew that better than anyone else. There were reasons that that boy—Jacob—had been worried for me. Everyone knew that dark creatures lived in the shelter between the huge trees, creatures that would seize you and never let you leave their grasp. No one knew what exactly happened when someone was found by the forest creatures because those foolish enough to enter the woods almost never returned. I could have died. Then what would have happened to Charlie? Charlie…

I had been gone longer than I had thought when I first barreled out of my small cottage. Charlie had finally fallen asleep when I had run. The cough in his chest had been settling thanks to a mixture that I had made from herbs and medicinal plants. It had been my mother who taught me what plants might soothe a burn or bring down a fever. Ever since she had been taken from us, my tiny store of knowledge had grown some, but in the end, I was useless to anyone. The plants did not always do what my mother had told me they should. I could not cure a cold, stop a plague, or halt death. In the end, I could only help lesson the pain of the stricken, and even that was not always enough.

I was not ready. I could not do it.

I still remembered my mother, but my father was the center of my world. He was my best friend, not a father really, just Charlie. And now he was sick. I could do nothing about it.

I had consulted with many people in our village of Lakson. I talked to the old women who still remembered the secret ways of our ancestors. I talked to the village holy man, who had even come to pray over Charlie and do sacred rituals for him. I had even gone so far to ask help of the nomads that occasionally passed by the forest, not careless enough to go through, but going around, of course.

Everyone said something different. It was a bad cold. It was an infection. It was an imbalance in his spirit. Everyone gave me an answer, but no answer fit. I had been working for two weeks now just trying everything, but nothing worked. My father needed to get well, because, without him, my life would be meaningless.

I did not talk to many people my own age. My closest friend was named Angela, and we both weren't the talking types. The others of my village—Jessica, Mike, Lauren—they didn't understand me.

My father understood me. He was the one that I clung to when I finally comprehended that my mother was dead. He raised me. He loved me. And I was just going to let him die.

All of a sudden, I was angry with myself. I was angry at my weakness and tempestuousness. I was never so careless as I had been today. My father needed me; if he ever found that I had gone into those woods, the pain of lost memories and unfathomable outcomes would surely hurt him more than any sickness. Charlie would live. He had to. I would make sure of it.

I unclenched my jaw and relaxed my fisted hands. The tension that I had never even noticed released me from its clutches and I felt better. For the first time in that entire, horrible day, I felt that there could be some hope. I would make Charlie live, if only by sheer force of will.

He would be ok. He had to be.

Using the door as a support, I stood up and brushed the dirt of my foolish escapades off of my skirts. Quietly, I checked on Charlie. His breathing appeared slightly easier and his forehead was not drenched in sweat like it had been.

He would be ok. Charlie would be fine.

For once without even trying, I felt my lips curve upwards in what had to be a smile, cautious, but a smile.

Charlie would be ok. But he could never know that I had gone into the woods in my darkest moment.

I stepped away from my father, sighing quietly at my foolhardiness. I made sure that the iron latch on our front door was firmly closed, and I readied myself for bed. The crackling of the constant household fire and the moonlight were my only companions. It had gotten very late and, very suddenly, I was very tired.

Just as my head hit the pillow and I almost instantaneously fell into a deep sleep, an image of a face situated between the branches of the trees returned to my mind. It was a face made of the shining moonlight and with glowing eyes. It was a face so fantastical that it must have been a trick of my mind, a collection of shadows, or both. But still…it was the most beautiful face I had ever seen.

* * *

Alice was upset. She did not have her brother's gift of reading the thoughts of others, and she certainly didn't have Jasper's ability with emotions, but after living with the same people for hundreds of years now, she was attune to their own feelings about Edward's disappearance.

Rosalie was angry more than sad. She didn't like how Edward's disappearance even slightly took Emmett's attention away from her own charms. She certainly missed her brother, but she wasn't pining for him and worries for his safety. Rose certainly was confident in him to get back to the family in one piece.

Emmett was worried and sad at missing a hunting partner and brother for so long. He, however, slightly less so than his mate, knew that wherever Edward was, he was fine and doing something important—to himself at least.

Jasper was confused. He, more than anyone else, understood that nothing could harm their lost brother, in his animal or human form. He felt his family's conflicting and worried emotions and felt that they were justification for his own apathy. Sometimes it scared Alice in her mate's ability to so utterly detach himself, just another reminder of his past.

Carlisle and Esme, being the parental figures to the band of misfits, were the easiest for Alice to read. They had the standard feelings that any parent would feel for a missing child. But they both understood that anything that got into the path of Edward would more than likely not even be able to scratch him.

But Alice, Alice was upset. The uncertainty of Edward's location was not what was bothering her, but the uncertainty of his future. Having the most confusing and volatile gift of the family, Alice was privy to all the outcomes of any trivial or monumental decision that they made. It's just that the glimpses that she was able to catch of Edward's future were so indiscernible that she felt so worried. It was as if Edward was somewhere in which he was confused or debating choices or terrifyingly and unknowingly happy or all of the above.

Something even more alarming than Edward's rapidly changing futures, however, was the one constant in them: a girl. It was an ordinary girl, a villager from the outside from what Alice could see. Her visions were of Edward as a lion and Edward as a man, changing constantly, but they always held this girl. She couldn't yet tell what part this ordinary girl would play in Edward's future. Her guess was terrible, and led her to become increasingly upset for Edward.

So, to get out some of those feelings, Alice spent most of her days as the rest of her family did, calling out to Edward in languages the he certainly would understand.

Alice winced—as close as any falcon could wince—at picking up Rosalie's high pitched, sliding howl, the noise aimed not at the absent moon, but throughout the forest.

Alice soared higher and higher, catching thermals on her broad, black wings and letting them raise her up and up towards the sun. She could catch the movements of her family searching through the large woods for their absentee brother. Edward had been gone for only a few days, but this was unusual for their most responsible of brothers. They also knew that if Edward either as a lion or as a man did not want to be found, then they would be hard-pressed to search him out.

She was about to dive down, away from the open sky that her heart yearned to continue flying through, when Alice had a vision. It was the clearest thing that she had seen all day, but for the first time it did not involve the girl.

In her mind, Alice saw a large black bird, graceful and jarring in its familiarity—it was still an experience to recognize this animal as herself—locking eyes with a huge tan mountain lion, silent and slender. The two animals were staring with each other as if words exchanged throughout the air between them. They were also in a clearing that Alice instantly identified as very close to her position.

Of course, her brother had heard her silent calls.

Swooping down to the clearing that Edward had decided upon, Alice perched herself on a large, upturned boulder and waited. Sure enough, in seconds the foreseen lion came stalking silently and swiftly into the open space, its amber eyes glowing shades that Alice had never seen before.

_Edward!_ _Where have you been? We've been looking for you for days! Do you have any idea what you were doing to us? What you're doing to me?_ The thoughts from Alice came out readily, easily. She was used to communicating her thoughts like silent words, and was not afraid to let her lion brother know that if she could talk at the moment, she would be screaming.

The lion that stared right into Alice's small, black eyes looked at her, and somehow, the fearsome creature that could probably fit two of Alice's size into its powerful jaws managed to look…_sheepish_. But then again, Alice had always been able to guilt her brother, as far back as they both could remember, which was a considerable time.

She perched there, waiting for the lion to respond to her in more than a look. It was midday, there was no way that she would be getting intelligible answers out of Edward for a long time. But while she waited, her thoughts unavoidably escaped her. It was really quite unfair that Edward could catch things that were so uncontrollable.

_Who is the girl I keep seeing, Edward?_

The lion roared. The huge sound was enough to send the entire area around the two creatures to become absolutely silent. And then there was the uproar of sound as every non-Alice bird left the clearing as quickly as their wings could take them. Seconds later, the only two beings left were the jet-black falcon and the auburn, seriously upset mountain lion that was currently pacing on its padded paws in circles, as if it was fighting to both control itself and come up with a solution to an unanswerable problem.

But Alice only had so much patience, and most of it had left her a few days ago when this search for her demented brother had begun.

_Is that where you have been this entire time?_ At the new thought, Edward stopped his pacing for a moment to look back at his sister, and managed to lift his heavy head up and down in what was clearly a nod.

Alice was shocked. _Please no, no, no…Edward, what have you done?_ At any other moment, it would have been comical how the lion tried so hard not to meet eyes with the great bird. But now was not a normal time.

_Edward, she had a life! A family! You just took her from all of that! The pact is broken! Edward, Edward, Edward, no, no, no…_

At that thought Edward's feline head shot up as his ears flattened down to his head his long, serpentine tail whipped the air back in forth as he started to walk towards Alice in a way that was eerily reminiscent of how his animal stalked its prey. Alice was suddenly very grateful that she had been supplied a form with wings, but she still held her ground. Edward kept walking slowly, almost calmly but yet with entirely too much precision, until his wickedly sharp and bared fangs were inches from Alice's eyes. Large amber eyes locked onto black ones as the great lion swung his head, shaking away the accusation.

Alice was relieved now—her brother had not committed the crime that she had quickly assumed he had—but now…what?

_Then who is she, Edward? And what happened?_

At that, Edward turned away and started to lope away from his sister, back into the shelter of the tree canopy. At that point, Alice was exhausted and sick of dealing with her temperamental brother. She knew something had occurred, but as he had no way of telling her now and she was almost weak with her relief, she let him go, but only with a final, well thought warning.

_Be careful! Come back in three days or we are finding you, Edward! _

Her visions could be wrong, right? Alice didn't know. It wasn't an exact science or prophesy that she had, but still…

There was a first time for everything.

And she flew away to go tell her family that their lion brother was safe. They could stop looking…for now.

* * *

_**So...how was it?**_

_**Questions? Comments? Concerns?**_


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